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SoLux low voltage bulbs are excellent for proofing and displaying photography.They have an very good Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 98 or 99. CRI is a measurement of a lights ability to replicate the daylight spectrum. The bulbs also come in a number of Kelvin temperatures ranging from 3500K to 5000K depending on your use.Most gallery display and proofing for galleries is done at 3500K, while most CMYK press proofing is done at 5000K. My studio is actually lit by 24 of the 4700K SoLux bulbs on Lutron dimmers.

Depending on the size of the prints you need to proof, one or more SoLux bulbs can be set up in fixture to light the print.The trick is to get the light as even as possible at the current ANSI standard which specifies 2200 ± 470 lux. You can use a camera meter and a gray card to figure it out. A meter reading of F16 at ¼ of a second for 100ASA will match the brightness of professional proofing stations.

I think it best to have the brightness and Kelvin temp match your monitor.Final viewing conditions should also be considered whenever possible.This is most true for Gallery work as there is a known light source under which the Art is displayed. Most commercial work that is printed CMYK will be ultimately be viewed under a multitude of light sources, so matching D50 is the best we can do.

There has always been great debate over what Kelvin Temp and Gamma to profile monitors at.We can all agree that it’s between 5000K and 6500K and between 1.8 and 2.2 Gamma.I currently profile mine to 5500K and a Gamma of 2.2.I suggest matching your monitor as closely as possible to the way the printed image will be viewed by the client or audience.For commercial photographers this means: match what a proof looks like at press check.For fine art photographers this means your monitor should match the print hanging on the wall.

Whatever Kelvin flavor of light you need, SoLux seems to be the right technology for lighting prints. Read More on SoLux Proofing.

RSS(Really Simple Syndication) is a great way to keep up with photography blogs and news sites. I cringe every time someone tells me that they check in on this blog every couple of days. I only post when I have something I feel is worthwhile on a photography technologies blog and I hate to have readers wasting their time when there’s nothing new posted. I don’t check blogs and news sites, I have them spoon fed to me through RSS feeds.
RSS feeds are really simple: Anywhere you see the radio icon you can get a feed. The RSS link can be set up to feed into a customizable web page, e-mail program, or another website.
I first used igoogle as an RSS client, but now I use NetVibes(free). NetVibes is a little more robust in the way it previews feeds. Feeds can be previewed directly from the customized Netvibes page and the feeds that have been read are marked. Netvibes also has more options for customizing and organizing your feeds and widgets(gadgets). Widgets are little applications for weather, maps, searches, etc. Setting up and useing NetVibes is a breze, nothing to fear it’s “really simple.” Read more…

Software

Get a 10% discount on ImageNest printing software by using this the coupon code: 10dis

Tutorials

Lynda has many excellent digital photography software tutorials.

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Friends, Please support Foto-Tech by purchasing your equipment through our "SponStores" links. We only link to stores we trust and buy from ourselves.

B&H is an excellent place to purchase digital photography and Video equipment. They have it all!

I buy all my computer equipment from NewEgg. They ship extremely fast and have an excellent exchange and return policy.

Amazon is not only a great place to buy books, but a great place to do comparative shopping. The Amazon system allows you to compare vendors products, and still the Amazon safe and easy system to purchase the products.